Creepy
by mintos013
Summary: Alan and Margaret take their kids to Haunted Pasadena for Halloween. Don and Charlie centric. (Mild violence, language)
1. Ice Scream

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Numb3rs.

* * *

UFO

**Creepy 1/3**

Ratio

Underfoot

Parasite

Consider Yourself Adopted

* * *

**Charlie is six and Don is eleven.**

** Extra Note: I always thought it was neat that in some places kids can go trick-or-treating without their parents, but where I grew up they had to stick with you for safety and a community event was the best idea. I'm definitely imposing my own experience of Halloween on the kids. However, Pasadena does do community events similar to the one in this story. =)**

* * *

He was dressed as a ghost, wearing a tattered long-sleeved white shirt on top of another white shirt. The two shirts were so long they stopped at his knees. Other than that, Charlie wore jeans and tennis shoes.

It wasn't a very elaborate costume, but at least it was something different.

"You're _always_ a baseball player," Charlie griped. "You were a baseball player the last two times."

"How do you even remember? I don't remember anything from when I was that little," Don said skeptically, tucking his navy blue jersey into his white pants like he always did for little league practice or for games.

Charlie wasn't surprised. Don was pretty old. "Well _I _remember. We went trick-or-treating at the zoo. Why can't we go again this year?"

"Because we did that _last_ year," Don reminded and headed for the door to Charlie's room. "Plus I've been to the zoo for Halloween like five times. I'm glad we're going to Haunted Pasadena. They give out way more candy."

Charlie followed him out into the hall and down the stairs. "Why do they give out more candy?"

"I dunno. I just heard they do," Don answered, jumping off the last step.

Charlie hopped after him and trailed his older brother into the kitchen. "Are any of your friends going with us?"

Don surveyed the counter, which was full of pumpkin-shaped cookies and other holiday-themed snacks. He snatched a handful of sour eyeballs.

"No. Not this year. They all have to do stuff with their own families," he said, taking a moment to sulk. He didn't take long, though. Halloween was too fun a night to spend feeling sorry for yourself.

"Can I have something?" Charlie stood on his toes so he could see what was on the counter. He jumped and made a grab for a pumpkin cookie, but the plate was almost tipped.

"Whoa," Don stepped closer, handing Charlie one of the cookies. "You spill those and Mom'll turn you into a real ghost."

"I want to eat now," Charlie said, munching on the sugar cookie and getting orange sprinkles on his costume.

"It's for when we get back," Don reminded.

Post trick-or-treating was actually his favorite part of Halloween. They would all hang out together in the living room, eat way too much junk food, and watch scary movies. Best of all, their parents never made them go to school if the following day was a school day. Instead, everyone stayed home from work and school and recovered from Halloween by eating _more_ junk and being lazy.

"Hey, we still need a pillowcase," Don realized.

"I'll get it!" Charlie raced from the room and Don heard him running back up the stairs.

"Make sure it's a good one!" he yelled after, and swiped a cookie for himself.

**He then walked out of the kitchen and into his father.**

"Oh, you're forgetting something," Alan said, sticking a navy cap on Don's head. "You only look half the part without it."

Don adjusted the hat. "Yeah, you're right. I wear it so much I swear it felt like I already had it on. Where's Mom?"

"She's already claimed the driver's seat. You know, doesn't trust me driving when little goblins are concerned I suppose," Alan admitted. "Is Charlie ready?"

"Yeah." Don smirked. "I still think he could've been a leprechaun."

His father gave him a bemused scowl.

**Haunted Pasadena consisted of a long street of shops, bistros, and cafes that catered to trick-or-treaters. In addition, there was a mini carnival set up in a privately owned field just across from the shops. Live music greeted the Eppes family after they'd parked and walked the distance to the event. **

Adults were dressed up as various characters and offering to take pictures with the kids for a tip.

"Oh look," Margaret cooed. "Don, you can get your picture with Superman just like you did when you were Charlie's age."

Don looked at the woman like she was crazy. "Okay there is _no_ way I'm doing that."

Charlie agreed, giving his mother a solemn look. "I don't want to either—Their masks are creepy."

Margaret said, "All right, sticks in the mud, let's see if we can find something cool enough for Don and not creepy enough for Charlie. Why don't we go ahead and get the trick-or-treating in?"

**Trick-or-treating involved walking up to the storefronts and sidewalk cafes, presenting a pillowcase, and looking cute enough to deserve copious amounts of candy. **

"You hold the pillowcase and ask for the candy," Don told Charlie, leading him towards the first store where a woman dressed as a pirate was forking out the goods.

"Why?"

"Because you're little and you have chipmunk cheeks," Don replied. "They'll give you more candy then they would me. See, some of them might think I'm too big for trick-or-treating."

"No you're not," Charlie said haughtily, feeling defensive of his brother's right to seek candy. "_I _don't think you're too big."

Don handed him the pillowcase. "Still, if you do the asking, we'll get more candy, which means we'll have more to split, right?"

"Right," Charlie agreed, nodding his curly head.

**Don carried the pillowcase once it was obviously getting too heavy for his little brother to lug around comfortably.**

"There's a really high probability that the first candy we eat will be a Twix," Charlie was chattering as he walked fast to keep up with Don's stride. "I was counting, and there are at least twenty-one Twixes in there. I'm not sure though. I might've missed one."

"You can double-check when we get home," Don said, a little distracted as he scanned the crowd for their parents.

**They found them near a Moonwalk, which meant that Charlie spent the next ten minutes standing in line and then joining the other unleashed children that bounced off the floor and the netted walls. **

Margaret was delighted to see Charlie having so much fun with other kids. She was smiling so much it hurt. However, Alan was standing at the net trying not to have a heart attack.

"Charlie!" Alan's hands went to his hips. "I know he can hear me."

Margaret said, "He's having fun."

"Do me a favor Don, go get your brother before he gets crushed," Alan replied, unwilling anymore to watch those _giant _children narrowly miss his youngest son, who of course, was bouncing around like a maniac, too. Honestly, what were they thinking, letting those Goliaths in there with Charlie and the other little ones?

Alan was much relieved when Don dragged the cackling, breathless six-year-old out.

Charlie, dizzy and red-faced, stumbled around in exaggeration. "That—was—so—much—_fun!_ Don, come on! There are other big kids in there. Let's go!"

Don eyed the mayhem. "No offense, but I outgrew those things, Chuck. They make me wanna throw up."

"Exactly. Too much of that and you'll get sick, too," Alan warned Charlie, handing him his shoes to put back on. "Let's see what else they have."

"Mom, he called me _that name_ again," Charlie pointed out.

"Don, don't call Charlie that name."

**They next deposited Don at a dunking booth that sat in close proximity to something called the Pumpkin Hunt. **

"All right, Charlie. Go find some pumpkins. Your mother and I will be right at the fence. Don't leave the area, okay?" Alan motioned towards the fenced in pumpkin patch where other kids were running around hunting for candy-filled plastic pumpkins. It would be easy to watch Charlie from the fence where other adults stood.

**The grass in the pumpkin patch was up to Charlie's waist. He searched and searched, but could not find a single pumpkin. Frowning, he looked around and saw other costumed kids carrying one or two trapped between their hands. There **_**had**_** to be at least one left.**

A little girl who looked his age and dressed as a princess walked past him. In her hands she held an opened pumpkin, and Charlie saw that they were filled with little chocolate ghosts, black cats, and bats. She met Charlie's eyes and blushed before hurrying away shyly.

_Okay, if a princess can find one, then I definitely can, _Charlie determined.

He looked around the field and thought about the least likely places that the other kids would have spent as much time looking due to various factors his mind quickly came up with, such as distance from their parents or poor visibility from the long, deep shadows that were cast over some areas of the patch.

_There!_

Charlie flung himself towards a bit of orange he saw hidden in the grass in a dark corner of the fenced in pumpkin patch. Just as he reached the pumpkin, two other, Don-sized kids were suddenly there, too.

"That's _mine,_" the kid dressed as a creepy clown snapped, shoving Charlie away from the small plastic pumpkin.

Charlie got up from the ground, scowled, and snatched at the prize, but it was held out of his reach. "I saw it first, and you have a whole bag of them."

He gestured at the clown's pillowcase that was so stuffed with pumpkins that it appeared lumpy and heavy.

"I know you saw it first. That's how I found it. I saw you running towards something and look, I beat you to it. That's the price for being such a midget," the creepy clown said, and his friend, a bloody nurse, laughed.

Charlie puzzled over what a _midget_ was as the two kids left him, probably to go steal another pumpkin. He pouted and realized he just didn't know that word yet. Looking down at his white, tattered ghost shirt, he frowned at the places that were dirty.

"Charlie!" Don called, running over. "I knocked the guy in the water with the first pitch! It was awesome! …You still haven't found a pumpkin? Hey look, buddy, I'm hungry. Let's regroup with Mom and Dad and get some real food, okay?"

Charlie brightened up at the mention of food. "What kind of food?"

"Carnival stuff. You know, funnel cakes and hot dogs? But some of the sidewalk cafes are open, too. I don't care what it is. My stomach's growling," Don replied. On their way out of the patch, he noticed a pumpkin wedged between the fence and a rock.

"Hey, what's that over there?"

Charlie gasped and ran to the pumpkin. "I got it!"

He ran back to his older brother and immediately dunked it into the safety of their pillowcase.

"You gonna save it?" Don asked. He threw the pillowcase back over his shoulder as he led them out of the Pumpkin Patch.

"Yeah so we can split it," Charlie said.

**The Eppes, food and drinks in hand, made their way over to a bunch of picnic tables that were set up near a wall where a Halloween cartoon was being projected. They took their seats and began to chow down on hotdogs, chili fries, and soda. **

"Charlie, slow down. You'll choke," Margaret said, both he could tell she wasn't really worried about it.

Don's eyes suddenly widened. "They're selling ice cream over there! Mom, can I go get some and come back?"

"I want some, too," Charlie said, taking a deep breath after inhaling half of his hotdog. He set the rest of it on the plate and started to climb off the picnic table's bench.

"Wait—you need money," Margaret reminded them as she handed it to Don. "Charlie, stay with your brother."

**The line for 'Ice Scream' was ridiculously long, in Don's young opinion, but also infinitely worth it. It was vanilla and delicious.**

Charlie's was chocolate. He followed behind Don, gripping the cone with both hands and licking the ice cream.

"This is so good," Don said, looking over his shoulder to make sure Charlie was still behind him.

Charlie nodded. "I'm going to eat all of mine."

"Whatever. You never finish ice cream. Mom'll end up with it," Don figured.

"I will this time."

There was a rush of wind, his brother cried out, and when Don whirled around, Charlie was knocked to the dirt path they'd been walking on. Half of his ice cream was on the ground, and the other half was smeared on his tattered ghost shirt.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Don asked, kneeling beside him.

Charlie was confused. The crushed waffle cone was still in his hand, which was now all sticky and gross. "They ran into me!"

Don looked around the crowds of families and costumed children that surrounded them, laughing and talking under the moonlight and festive lanterns that were strung across the buildings.

"Who?"

Charlie took a shuddering breath, dropping the cone and wiping his hands on the grass. He tried not to cry, but it had _hurt_ being knocked down, and now his ice cream was gone, and his costume was messed up.

"Do you think Mom and Dad will be mad?" he asked, wiping his dark eyes furiously and looking down at the chocolate seeping into the white layers of his costume.

Don shook his head. "Of course not. Are you okay?"

Charlie nodded. Don pulled his brother up and handed him his ice cream.

"Here, we can share it. Maybe we can get some napkins for you shirt," Don offered. He looked around the crowd again, and decided that some other kid had probably just been running too fast and accidentally tagged his little brother.

_But they could've at least apologized,_ Don thought moodily. He did not see the creepy clown or the bloody, giggling nurse that picked up a few rocks and followed after him and his brother.

* * *

**There will be two more little chapters to this itty bitty story if there is interest in such. I can't wait for Halloween. **


	2. Funhouse

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Numb3rs.

* * *

UFO

**Creepy 2/3**

Ratio

Underfoot

Parasite

Consider Yourself Adopted

* * *

They found their parents still seated at the picnic tables, finishing up their chili fries and hot dogs. Margaret noticed the chocolate ice cream right away. It stood out stark against the white material of Charlie's tattered costume.

"What happened, Charlie?" Margaret asked as her sons trudged over to the table and retook their seats. "You've got dirt and ice cream all over you. Honey, I hate to break it, but you're starting to look a lot more like a cute little hobo than a cute little ghost."

Charlie paused mid-lick of Don's vanilla ice cream, considered their mom's evaluation, and gave her a brown-eyed frown.

"Someone ran into him. I tried to get it off, but I think I just made it worse." Don explained.

"Well, no harm," Alan said. "Ripped up like it is, that shirt was destined for the trash bin tonight anyway."

**The Eppes were always successful at finishing off their food, and Halloween was no exception. Alan gathered the family's trash and balanced the paper plates and empty soda cups onto a giant trash can that was dangerously close to overflowing.**

"Hey, look, a funhouse," Don said. "I've seen those on TV. Charlie, they have crazy rooms inside."

"Oh I remember this building," Alan said, looking up at the tall structure. "It used to be a tourist shop. They sold beachy things. Sunscreen and bathing suits. It's been empty for a few months. I guess tonight it's a spook house. They sure put a lot of work into making it look the part."

"It's called a _funhouse_, Dad," Don reminded. His eyes followed the line of kids waiting to go inside. It wrapped to the side of the building and went up a fire escape to the second floor.

"You have to be over three feet tall to enter," Margaret said, reading from a creepy looking sign. "That's bad luck, Charlie. Guess you're stuck with us for a little bit."

"Nonsense. Charlie's wearing shoes. That adds at least an inch, don't you think?" Alan gestured at the boy's feet.

"They make me point six-six-seven centimeters taller," Charlie replied. He'd checked his height fairly often. He was pretty tired of being short.

"Well that's still over three feet, isn't it?" Alan gave him a gentle push towards Don. "It can't hurt to try—if you're sure you really want to go in. I mean, it could be scary in there. That place could give you bad dreams."

Charlie swallowed; looking again at the funhouse and the ghoulish pictures painted all over the ex-storefront's brick walls and blacked-out windows. There were wicked spiders, bloodshot eyes, and nightmarish shadow creatures. The man standing at the top of fire escape that led into the temporary attraction was a grim reaper with skeleton hands. On a stool beside him sat a cauldron with the word TIPS written in dripping blood letters.

"It can't be that bad," Don said, grinning and ready to go. "Girls are going in."

"I'll be okay if I can stay with Don," Charlie told their parents.

**Sure enough, the grim reaper let Don walk right in but blocked Charlie with a large, skeletal hand. The black robed figured silently gestured for Charlie to stand next to a giant green ruler. Shoes and curly hair included, he was fractionally tall enough to enter. **

Relieved, Charlie hurried past the creepy doorman and found Don waiting for him just inside the funhouse. There was nothing in the tiny, narrow room but a line of kids and walls full of distorted mirrors. The space was so tight that the kids had no choice but to form a line between the tall, crooked mirrors on either side of them. At the front of the line Charlie saw the top of a purple curtain that hid whatever lay ahead.

"I was about to come see if he turned you around, Chuck," Don said, smirking.

"What's this line for?" Charlie asked, not liking the way they were packed in, or the mirrors on either side of them. "I thought we already stood in line."

Don, like most of the kids funneled into the cramped space, gawked at his deformed reflection in the mirrors. Some of them stretched him super tall and others made Don appear short and fat. "I'm not sure. Hey, Charlie, look at this one—my legs are like coming out of my ears."

Charlie shook his curly head. "I don't like them. They make our eyes scary."

A few more minutes passed by and a woman in a cow suit stood up from her chair at the front of the line. Neither Charlie nor Don had noticed her sitting there before.

Smiling, she said, "When you get to the bottom of the slide, make sure you move out of the way quickly so that the next person doesn't land on you, okay? Have fun!"

**She pulled the curtain back and right away kids started disappearing. They let out laughing screams as they descended into the unknown.**

The slide was long and full of waves, and the boys practically flew off of it. They were deposited into a giant ball pit. Laughing, Don unburied himself and got his feet on solid ground. The colorful, hollow plastic balls were no bigger than baseballs, and they were almost up to his shoulders.

All around him kids were going absolutely nuts. They were jumping around, diving into the plastic spheres, throwing them, pegging each other, sticking the balls up their shirts, and sneaking around like sharks, grabbing other kids by the ankles and yanking them underneath the surface of the ball pit.

Charlie struggled to knock all of the plastic balls aside, but they just kept packing around him. He was too short. He couldn't see. Every time a kid jumped or slid past him, waves of plastic spheres were sent tumbling over him. The business end of a shoe slammed into his back

_"Ow!"_ Charlie was knocked to the floor of the pit. A waterfall of colorful plastic balls crowded around and on top of him. Charlie felt buried. The spot where he'd been kicked hurt like crazy. He sat up and wondered if it'd be better for him to just stay on the ground.

_Maybe they won't accidentally hit me if I' stay really still,_ he figured.

Hearing his brother's cry of pain, Don plunged his hands down into the plastic balls and found Charlie's curly head. He grabbed Charlie by the sleeves and helped him stand up. Don laughed as his little brother furiously shoved at the plastic spheres.

"Maybe they shouldn't have let you in here after all," Don said. "Are you okay?"

A kid dove into the balls right next to them, sending up a spray of plastic and color that rained down on the brothers.

"Here, Charlie, maybe you should get on my back," Don suggested.

Leaping at the opportunity to escape, Charlie climbed up out of the suffocating plastic sea.

Don gagged. "Not so tight!"

"Sorry." Charlie loosened his arms from Don's neck and looked warily around the ball pit. He saw another woman, this one dressed as a ballerina, sitting by a closed door that had ENTER IF YOU DARE written in jagged white letters across its surface.

Don saw the ballerina, too, and began wading towards her. "Hold on, Chuck. We're getting out of here."

_"Ow!"_

Don paused. "What now?"

"Something hit me in the head!" Charlie searched for the offending object, but his brother and he were surrounded by an ever-shifting mass of colorful hollow balls.

"A ball? Charlie, they're plastic. I've been hit in the head like twenty times already." Don resumed picking his way through the ball pit. All of the yelling and screaming was giving him a headache. There were _way_ too many kids crashing around.

"No, it was hard, like a marble, or a rock," Charlie said, rubbing the side of his head. He looked at his fingers to make sure he wasn't bleeding. "It really hurt."

"We're almost out of here," Don assured. He heard the creak of the door, and caught a glimpse of a small group of kids leave the ball pit. The ballerina shut the door again behind them.

She had just sat down on the pink staircase that led up to the door when Don and Charlie finally reached her.

The ballerina checked her watch. She looked down her nose at Don. "Are you sure you're ready to leave? You've got six more minutes."

"I want to go," Charlie said, slipping off of Don's back and onto the pink stairs. "Can we please go?"

"Well hey there," the ballerina's bored voice became syrupy sweet. She smiled at Don's little brother. "Are you sure you want to go? It's_ very_ scary in there."

Charlie bit his lip. He glanced up at Don.

_Geez lady, way to freak him out,_ Don thought. "It's better than staying in here. Right, Charlie?"

"Right," Charlie agreed.

The ballerina got up and opened the door. It creaked as she eased it backwards into the next room, which was pitch black.

Don peered into the complete blackness. It was cold and quiet in there, so different from the vibrant noise and color of the room they were currently in. "What're we supposed to do in there?"

"Make it to the other side. It's a hallway. Just walk straight through," the ballerina said. "It's only scary because it's dark," she added, meeting Charlie's brown eyes.

Don led Charlie up the pink stairs, past the ballerina, and into the unlit hallway. Once they were inside, the door behind them groaned shut, sealing them in with the darkness. Ahead, a bright green exit sign flickered to life.

"Don, something's going to jump out and scare us," Charlie predicted, standing very close to his brother. "I'm scared."

Don squinted hard, and thought he saw shapes moving in the blackness, but couldn't be sure. _It's probably other kids, or maybe people who work here. Maybe they're supposed to yell 'Boo!' or something when we walk by. No matter what, I refuse to scream like a girl in front of Charlie. _

"Just remember this is a _fun_house," Don said in a lowered voice. "It's all in good fun. Even if some guy tries to scare you, nothing's going to actually hurt you. Okay?"

**Charlie was snatched by the back of his ghost shirt. He cried out as he was yanked backwards in the dark and away from Don. Whatever had grabbed him let go of the kicking, screaming six-year-old and Charlie stumbled into a wall. He pressed himself there and covered his face with both hands.**

Don was busy peeling himself off the ground.

_Someone shoved me! _he thought in disbelief, his girly cry of surprise still echoing in his ears. Angry and embarrassed, Don stood and tried to glare through the darkness at his attacker. He heard muffled laughter.

_Wait, where's Charlie?_

"Charlie? Are you okay?"

"I don't like this," Charlie answered immediately. He was somewhere to Don's left and a few feet behind. "I want Mom."

"Aww…" a feminine voice cooed.

"Who's there?" Don demanded, his anger returning. He knew there was no way being physically shoved around was a part of the attraction. Someone was messing with them. He also knew he needed to get his little brother out of there. "Charlie, come on. Come to my voice."

Charlie shook his head, even though he knew his brother couldn't see him. It was no use. Every time he tried to move away from the wall, someone blocked his way and Charlie shrank back after running into them.

"They won't let me."

Fed up with whatever was going on, Don took a step in the direction of his brother's frightened voice. He was met with a hard shove to his shoulder, knocking him off balance. However, when Don was hit, he formed a fist and sent it arcing right back towards whatever had pushed him.

**A boy cried out in shocked pain. The stinging in Don's knuckles was worth it.**

"Charlie, run towards the exit sign!" Don ordered. He followed his own advice once he heard his brother race by.

They ran through the exit, opening and slamming the door behind them. They found themselves in yet another room, thankfully one that was lit (albeit by candlelight). Panting, the brothers looked around. Don recognized that the room was decorated like a funeral home. Charlie, having never been to a funeral home, was just glad it wasn't dark.

"Don, you said they wouldn't hurt us," Charlie said, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder at the closed door.

Don was shaking his hand in the air. It still hurt from colliding with the other kid's face. "I know, but l I was talking about the people who work here. Those were just some mean kids. _They_ probably don't work here, Charlie."

"Oh." Charlie absorbed that information, and was glad that his older brother was still right about everything except math. (Don was wrong _all the time_ when it came to math.)

"Wow, you boys must be really afraid of the dark," said a man dressed as a funeral director. His makeup made all of his features exaggerated and gave him dark, dark circles around his eyes. "You two came out of there so fast it scared_ me_!"

He gestured towards a coffin. It was opened and stuffed with candy. "Go ahead and grab you some candy on your way out."

**Outside the funhouse, Don saw their parents waiting a few yards away with a cluster of other adults. He grabbed Charlie by the elbow and directed his brother away from them.**

"Where are we going?" Charlie asked as Don took him around the corner of the funhouse.

"Shh. Eat your candy. I just want to see these guys who messed with us," Don told him.

"How will you know it's them?" Charlie copied Don, peeking around the edge of the building.

Before Don answered, a small group of four kids walked out of the funhouse. Among them was a boy dressed as a scary clown. He was holding his jaw and rubbing it as if it ached something fierce. All of the kids with him were looking around. Don knew the clown and his friends were looking for a baseball player and a ghost.

"That's the guy I hit," Don told Charlie. He grinned. "They sure look pissed."

"You're not supposed to say that word," Charlie reminded, chewing a marshmallow pumpkin he'd selected from the candy coffin, but his attention was really on the creepy clown and a nurse standing close to the boy. Her scrubs were splattered with fake blood. It covered her entire lower face and neck, as well as her hands.

"I wonder why us," Don thought aloud, watching the group shuffle off. Their heads were still twisting around, trying to find Don and Charlie.

"Are you gonna tell Mom and Dad?" Charlie asked.

"Nah. They'd probably just lecture me about fighting with my words and not my fists," Don said. "Plus they might make us go home."

Charlie gave the retreating backs of the clown and his friends a worried glance. "…Maybe we _should _go home."

"Aw, come on, Charlie." Don scuffed the back of his little brother's curly head. "You can't let those jerks scare you off. There's still stuff we haven't done. I saw a sign for a squirt gun maze—and remember that guy with the milk bottles? I bet I can get you one of those stuffed animals he's had hanging there all night."

"Dad says that game is rigged."

Don scoffed. "I can win it. You just be ready to tell the guy if you want a stuffed ghost or a stuffed cat. Let's get Mom and Dad and go right now."

Charlie brightened a little, and followed Don back towards their parents. He couldn't help but keep a lookout for any sign of the clown and his friends. He glanced at his brother's red knuckles and wondered how mad the mean kids were at Don.

**One more itty bitty chapter to go. =)**


	3. Cops and Robbers

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Numb3rs.

* * *

UFO

**Creepy 3/3**

Ratio

Underfoot

Parasite

Consider Yourself Adopted

* * *

"What? You don't want to try again? You were pretty close, kid!" the man dressed as a ringmaster encouraged. He gestured at his pyramid of milk bottles. "I heard them wobble—Yes, you were very close! …Maybe if you throw a little harder?"

Don sulked. His cheeks and ears were burning in humiliation. He'd hit the stack of bottles with a baseball_ twice_ with perfect precision, right where the three bottles intersected. They should've gone flying everywhere! Instead, they'd barely trembled. It was like they were glued together and cemented to the surface of the table. Worse, a group of little Charlie-sized girls were watching and giggling at his defeat.

Don scowled back at the cheery ringmaster. "No thanks. This game is rigged."

"I told you Dad said so," Charlie reminded, but he was looking up at a stuffed cat. It was only one of the many plush prizes hanging from the walls of the game's enclosed booth.

"No need to be sore losers!" the ringmaster laughed. He flashed a smile and pointed at his bucket of baseballs. "How about a deal? You can try again for five more dollars, and this time I'll give you a freebee—three throws this time instead of just two!"

Don glanced back at where their parents mingled with another young couple. He knew his parents weren't keen on throwing more money away on the game. They'd given him and Charlie five dollars each to spend on it, and Don had lost.

"Here, Don," Charlie said, gathering up his ghost shirt so he could get to his jean's pocket and pull out a five dollar bill. "He said you get three tries, so your chances are better, but um… could you throw the ball at the base of the pyramid this time?"

"Sure, but I don't think we can win," Don said as Charlie handed him the last of their money. "I mean, did you see how hard I already hit those bottles? They didn't budge. They're stuck to the table or something. Dad was totally right about this game being rigged."

"I think they're just really heavy," Charlie said, shooting a distrustful look at the ringmaster. "If you hit the two on the bottom you can take advantage of that little space between them. It's what Dad calls a structure weakness."

"_Structural,"_ Don corrected. He hoped his little brother was right. More than anything, Don wanted to knock those bottles over. This ringmaster guy was making it look like he had a weak arm or something.

"All right boys, if you're afraid to try again, step aside and let those little girls behind you give it a go," the ringmaster taunted.

"I'll try one more time," Don said.

"That's the spirit!"

The ringmaster accepted Don's money. He then waggled a long, white-gloved finger at Charlie. "No crying or pouting when big brother loses again!"

Charlie gave him a dark-eyed frown.

He really didn't like this man.

Don picked up a baseball and rolled it in his fingers.

"Serious little thing, isn't he?" the ringmaster muttered, meeting Don's determined eyes and jerking a thumb towards Charlie. "Well remember, kid, you get three tries, but there are other people in line, so hurry it up!"

"I'll only need one," Don assured.

**The pyramid was obliterated. The bottles crashed across the table like a small avalanche of bricks. **

Charlie was cheering, and so were the little girls that had been watching. They rushed up to Don, holding up their money.

"Could you win something for me? Please?" a girl dressed as a sparkly witch begged.

"Me, too!" cried a fairy princess, bouncing on her feet. Her glittery purple wings flapped with each bounce.

"You have to play for yourself," the ringmaster grouched at them. He then recovered his cheerfulness, slipping it back on like mask, and gestured at the prizes hanging around the booth. "So, Mr. Baseball Player, which one you want?"

**Don and Charlie headed back to their parents. Don was swaggering, more or less, and Charlie carried a stuffed black cat that had orange inner ears and an equally orange nose.**

Their parents bid farewell to another couple as the kids approached. Margaret smiled at the cocky grin on Don's face, and the way Charlie practically glowed.

"Ah, so is that a five dollar feline or a ten dollar pure breed you've got there?" Alan asked, gesturing at the stuffed animal his youngest son clutched victoriously.

Margaret nudged him. "At least he won something. You were always terrible at those games. You remember that time you spent fifty bucks trying to win _me_ a stuffed elephant? I was so embarrassed…"

Alan huffed. "That was years ago. Besides, you wanted it."

"Don got it on his first try the second time," Charlie said, holding the stuffed animal up with both hands. It was roughly the size of a real cat, which made it look pretty big in Charlie's scrawny arms.

Margaret scratched the black cat behind its ears. "You could name him 'Pumpkin' or 'Goblin'," she suggested.

"His name is Fibonacci," Charlie told her.

"Something from piano lessons?" Alan asked.

"No, he's a mathematician. I learned about him and golden rectangles," Charlie explained, making an ugly face at the mention of _piano lessons,_ and hugging the cat to his chest.

**Deciding it was about time to call it a night, Alan agreed to first let Don and Charlie try out the Haunted Maze, which was a game where kids were allowed to run around and fire squirt guns at each other through a maze constructed of towering wooden fences. **

The maze was surrounded by a wooden fence that was much taller than their parents. It was in the same field as the Pumpkin Patch, but was open year-round as a tourist trap. Normally it was called _The Water Labyrinth, _but for the sake of Halloween, a large plastic banner reading _The Haunted Maze_ covered the attraction's normal title.

Don could hear kids screaming inside the maze. Creepy music was playing over a loudspeaker. Unlike the milk bottle game, entering the maze was free. "How long can we stay in?"

"The sign says you have ten minutes," Margaret read. "Don't play too rough in there, and Charlie, don't run off from Don. We'll be at the exit. Try not to get _too_ wet."

"Will you hold Fibonacci? Cats don't like water." Charlie said, and Margaret accepted the role of cat guardian even as Don handed the pillowcase of candy back to Alan for safe-keeping.

"Looks like you get a prize if you make it through the maze without getting wet," Alan read from a plastic sign. "You two watch each other's backs and maybe you'll win something, huh?"

**A woman dressed as a rag doll handed Don a giant super-soaker squirt gun that resembled a rifle. It was so big that Don had to use both hands to carry and fire it. If he pumped the handle, it would send jets of water firing at any opponent. Charlie was handed a small water pistol.**

"It's pink," Charlie pointed out to the rag doll. Didn't she know pink was a girl color?

"Take it or leave it, kid," she replied, not even bothering to glance down at him.

**Inside the maze the walls were high and the pathways were narrow. Don's and Charlie's shoes sank a little into the damp ground as they walked through the maze. Throughout the maze, at all of the dead ends, there were giant buckets of water and hose pipes set up so that kids could refill their squirt guns. **

"_No! No! Put me down!"_ a voice cried, followed by a huge splash of water. Seconds later, a girl began wailing hysterically.

Don and Charlie found her sitting in one of the giant buckets of water, but most of the water was either dripping from the girl or soaking into the ground around her. She was crying with her eyes closed. She was at least Charlie's age, and she was dressed as a mermaid. Her squirt gun lay on the ground beside the bucket, along with a few pieces of soggy candies, all still in their wrappers.

"What happened?" Don asked.

She wiped her eyes, her wails quickly dying down to sniffles. "They said _stupid little mermaids belong in the water._ They threw me in!"

Don and Charlie helped her climb out of the bucket, much of the water splashing on their legs as they hauled the upset mermaid back onto relatively dry land.

"Who did it? What did they look like?" Don pressed as she wrung out her tail, squeezing the water from the green fabric of her costume.

"It was a scary clown with shark teeth and a hospital nurse with blood all over her face. She was scarier than him because there was blood on her hands, too," the mermaid said. "And they took my bag of candy!"

The mermaid knelt down and picked up the few pieces that were left from the muddy ground.

"I bet they're the same ones who were pushing us around in the funhouse," Don told Charlie, who nodded solemnly.

Charlie was sad for the girl losing her candy, but at the same time, he was relieved his stuffed cat and their candy was safe with their parents.

"Don, maybe we should hurry up and find the way out," Charlie said, not wanting to be dunked in a bucket of cold water or attacked again.

"My mom is going to be so mad at me for getting this wet," the mermaid said tearfully. "She knew I'd get a little wet, but this… my costume's all wet and dirty now."

"Just tell her the truth," Don said. "I mean, a couple of bullies did it and they took your candy. If your mom is anything like ours, she'll want to beat the bullies up, she won't be mad at _you,"_ Don assured the little girl.

"You want to walk with us?" Charlie asked her. "When we get outside you can have some of our candy. We have a lot."

Surprised, the little mermaid gave them a smile shy.

**The three children, armed with their water guns, continued onward into the maze, finding more dead ends than other children to squirt. However, it did not take them long to encounter another upset kid. He was dressed as a cowboy, and two other boys were doing their best to console him. Don figured they were probably first or second graders.**

Don, Charlie, and the little mermaid approached the group, making sure it was obvious they didn't intend to squirt them by pointing their water guns at the ground.

"What's wrong with him? Did he fall down?" Don asked, gesturing with his gun at the crying cowboy, who was holding his middle.

"No, they punched him," one of the cowboy's friends said. This kid was dressed a sheriff, complete with shiny silver badge.

"We were scared… so we ran away," the other friend, dressed as a super hero, admitted guiltily.

The cowboy stood up, still holding his stomach. His face was streaked in tears. "It's okay. They would've just taken your candy, too. I wish I'd left mine with my parents."

"Someone took my candy, too," the mermaid announced. "It was a scary clown and a nurse."

The cowboy's eyes widened. "That's who took mine! They're such jerks! They were just waiting for us to walk into a dead end and then they jumped out and grabbed me."

"Earlier they were picking on me and my brother," Don told the group of younger kids, and all of them gave him their attention. "I say enough's enough. Together we can totally soak these guys. I mean, maybe we can even get the candy they stole back."

"But how do we get them?" the mermaid asked. "They're so big. They'll corner us and beat us up."

"We need a distraction," Don agreed.

The Pumpkin Patch, the clown, and a stack of plastic pumpkins flashed through Charlie's mind. "Don, I know what we can use."

Charlie looked to the sheriff and the super hero, who still had their candy bags. "But we'll need your candy—or maybe just one thing if you have it."

**After several minutes of stalking, Don and his miniature army located the clown and the nurse. They were sitting on an upturned bucket, chowing down on candy. **

Following his brother's directions, Charlie sat on the ground close to the dead end where the 'robbers' were eating. He made a lot of noise as he struggled to open the plastic pumpkin. His fingernails were so sawed down from piano lessons that he couldn't pry the two orange halves apart. The little chocolate pieces inside rattled as he tried to open the pumpkin.

"Come on, open up!" he said loudly.

Moments later, Charlie heard footsteps, and then the scary clown and the bloody nurse were looming behind him. Charlie looked over his shoulder and gulped. The nurse held two candy bags in her bloodstained hand.

"Look, it's the ghost midget," the clown sneered through his hideous mask. The mask's eyes were yellow and insane looking, and its fake grin was packed with long, frightening teeth. "Listen up, brat, I know it was that other kid with you that hit me. Is he your big brother? I bet he is. I'm going to tell your parents what your brother did if you don't give me all your candy, starting with that pumpkin."

Charlie clutched the pumpkin to his chest with both hands. "No, you can't have it! You already took my other one."

The clown snatched the pumpkin right out of Charlie's grip.

Charlie scrambled to his feet and tried to grab the pumpkin back, but the clown swatted at him, knocking the much younger child onto his backside. The older kids burst into laughter.

Angry and embarrassed, Charlie yanked off one of his tennis shoes and flung it at them. The small shoe hit the nurse in the thigh and bounced off. The clown and the nurse were so stunned by Charlie's attack that it took them a moment to react.

But only a moment.

Dropping their water guns and the candy, both of them raced after the curly-haired ghost, the nurse swiping up the kid's shoe before following after the clown.

Charlie ran around a corner of the maze, trying to remember which way Don had told him to go. He heard the older kids yelling threats and calling him horrible names. Panicking, he flew around another corner and almost ran straight into the dead end. He whirled around just as the scary clown and the bloody nurse caught up to him.

"You're gonna be on the box of a milk carton," promised the hideous clown. He advanced on the six-year-old with fists clenched. The nurse was only a half-step behind him.

She held Charlie's shoe up like it was a weapon. "Hold him down first. I want to make him lick it—all over the bottom," she sneered, and both of the older kids reached for Charlie.

Charlie evaded them, feigning right and then running left.

**The creepy clown and the bloody nurse swore and spun around to chase him. They were met with Don Eppes and the blast of a water hose turned up to full pressure, along with the water guns of four other children.**

"What the hell!?" the clown cried out as he threw up his arms to shield his face. The nurse screamed beside him. The water was freezing! In seconds both of them were soaked, and the kids that had attacked them were fleeing, but not before the ghost darted forth and snatched his shoe from the ground where the shrieking nurse had dropped it.

"Come back here!" the clown yelled, drenched. He ripped off his soggy mask and threw it aside before chasing after the group of kids. "I'm going to kill you!"

Thoroughly pissed, the bloody nurse ran after him, her wet hair clinging to her face.

"Which way did they go!?" she asked.

"Just shut up and help me look!" the boy snapped at her.

**They did not find the group of kids until they reached the end of the maze, but at that point, their attackers were in the company of parents and other adults. The unmasked clown and the dripping nurse scowled, catching their breath.**

Don and Charlie looked around for their parents, but didn't see them in the crowd. The other kids they'd met in the maze waved goodbye to them, still giggling over the prank and happy to have their candy restored. Then Don spotted his parents and quickly led Charlie over to them.

Alan's eyes widened at how wet both of this sons were. "What, did you two go _swimming_ in there?"

"Charlie, is your foot okay?" Margaret worried, noticing that he was holding his shoe.

**After Charlie worked his shoe back over his muddy, wet sock, the Eppes headed for the exit of Haunted Pasadena. As they left, Don didn't point out to Charlie that the guy dressed as a clown or the girl with him were still following them, still hoping for chance to get revenge. Don smirked. He kenw the other kids were powerless to do anything with Margaret and Alan there.**

Halfway across the parking lot, Charlie said, "My feet hurt."

"We're almost there. Look, you can see the car," Alan told him.

**At home, Margaret insisted that her children strip out of their wet, dirty costumes and get cleaned up.**

Dressed in green pajamas and clean socks, Charlie informed Don that he was going to eat all of the Halloween junk food in the kitchen if his brother didn't hurry up and come out of his room. Charlie held Fibonacci in one arm and banged his other fist on Don's door.

"Are you coming? What are you doing?"

Don opened his door, wearing a t-shirt and old jeans because he was too cool to wear pajamas. He held up the pillowcase full of candy and his little brother gasped.

"You already took some!" Charlie accused.

"Just the chewing gum," Don said, letting his little brother peer around him to see a small pile of chewing gum packets on Don's bed.

"Oh, okay," Charlie said, no longer scandalized. He didn't like gum that much anyway, and he was still a little in awe of Don's ability to neutralize scary clowns and nurses with a water hose.

**Downstairs, armed with snacks from the kitchen, the boys headed into the living room where Alan was sliding a horror movie into the VHS player. A stack of other scary movies sat on the coffee table.**

Don dumped the pillowcase of candy on the floor. He loved the sound of it spilling all over the carpet.

"Wow, you men really racked up!" Margaret said, taking a seat on the couch. She took up the remote and switched the TV to the right channel for her husband, who was grumbling about the VHS player not working.

"Yeah, we got a lot more this year than last time at the zoo," Don agreed, admiring the candy haul.

Charlie plopped down next to him and immediately started separating the candy by brand and type.

Once the candy was categorized, negotiations began.

"I don't want any of these," Charlie said, gesturing to a pile of hard candies that consisted mostly of jawbreakers and fireballs.

Don swept all of the Hershey miniature bars, Kit-Kats, and Twixes towards his brother. "Well you can have these. My science teacher said chocolate causes acne."

Charlie's brow furrowed. "What's acne?"

"Zits," Alan answered, pressing play on the VHS's remote.

"What's a zit?"

Don snorted. "You know what a fiber-nacho is but not a zit."

_"Fibonacci," _Charlie corrected, glancing at his stuffed cat, which had its own pile of Swedish Fish packets sitting in front of it. He looked at his mom. "What's a zit?"

"It's those bumps your brother gets on his face sometimes," Margaret replied. "Every teenager gets them."

"Don's not a teenager," Charlie said, looking at Don to make sure. "He's only eleven."

Margaret gave Don a look that was purely bittersweet. "Well, honey, pretty soon he'll be twelve, and then thir_teen_. ...Both of you are growing up way too fast, but I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I can't wait to grow up," Charlie said, returning his attention to the candy division.

"You just want to get taller," Don said.

**With the candy separated, Don turned off the living room lights and settled into an overstuffed chair next to the couch where he parents munched on Halloween cookies and sipped green punch. His own plate of junk food rested in his lap.**

**His little brother grabbed one of the large decorative pillows off of a chair and threw it on the floor close to the TV where Charlie could watch the movie lying down.**

Ten minutes into the movie and Don was unable to eat another bite, setting his last sugar cookie back on his plate to finish later. He glanced at his parents, who were snuggled together and watching the scary movie. Part of him wanted to tell them about the clown and the nurse, and how he'd gotten the better of those bullies.

Would they be proud? Or would they fuss about him teaching Charlie and those other little kids to take an eye for an eye?

Another part of Don enjoyed the dark of the living room, the creepy music playing on the TV, and the knowledge that no matter how scary the movie was, everything was fine with his parents right there, relaxed and watching the movie. It was a kind of satisfying peace that he didn't want to interrupt.

The movie climaxed with a gruesome scene. The protagonist was slaughtered by a demonic creature. Don leaned forward in his seat, surprised that Charlie hadn't reacted to the terrifying scene on the TV.

But Charlie was snoozing against the pillow, not even looking at the screen. Candy wrappers were scattered around him, and a stuffed cat was propped up so that it could 'see' the movie.

Don realized his brother had probably fallen asleep within the first five minutes of the movie anyway. He yawned, and was so glad their parents were letting them skip school in the morning, like they got to do every Halloween.

As the movie on TV ended and Alan struggled off the comfy couch to stick the next tape in, Margaret noticed that both of her sons had fallen asleep. She got up and reclined Don's chair, covering him up with a nearby afghan Alan had bought years ago in Europe. She found another small throw blanket and tucked it around Charlie, pulling his arm out from under him so that he wasn't lying on it so awkwardly.

Margaret rejoined her husband on the couch just in time for Alan to press _play_, and a new movie, this one black and white, appeared on the screen.

* * *

**The end.**


End file.
